Long Island Sound
I see it as it looked one afternoonIn August,--by a fresh soft breeze o'erblown.The swiftness of the tide, the light thereon,A far-off sail, white as a crescent moon.The shining waters with pale currents strewn,The quiet fishing smacks, the Eastern cove,The semi-circle of its dark, green grove.The luminous grasses, and the merry sunIn the grave sky; the sparkle far and wide,Laughter of unseen children, cheerful chirpOf crickets, and low lisp of rippling tide,Light summer clouds fantastical as sleepChanging unnoted while I gazed thereon.All these fair sounds and sights I made my own.
Words in this poem
- afternoon n.
- The part of the day which follows noon, between noon and evening.
- thereon adv.
- On that or this. [AS. . See There, and On.]
- cove v. t.
- To brood, cover, over, or sit over, as birds their eggs. [CF. F. couver, It. covare. See Covey.]
- unseen a.
- Not seen or discovered.
- lisp v. i.
- To pronounce the sibilant letter s imperfectly; to give s and z the sound of th; -- a defect common among children. [OE. lispen, lipsen, AS. wlisp stammering, lisping; akin to D. & OHG. lispen to lisp, G. lispeln, Sw. läspa, Dan. lespe.]
- fantastical a.
- Fanciful; unreal; whimsical; capricious; fantastic.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Long Island Sound is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poems of Emma Lazarus, Volume 1, Project Gutenberg ebook #3295; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Emma Lazarus, Long Island Sound, in Admetus, and Other Poems (1867–1887), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #3295, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/lazarus-poems/long-island-sound.html, id L01923.
Form and metre
Long Island Sound is 14 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 85%). 92% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 29% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic pentameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 ABCAADD-E-E-CB afternoonA · o'erblownB · thereonC · moonA · strewnA · coveD · groveD · sun · wideE · chirp · tideE · sleep · thereonC · ownB
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| I see it as it looked one afternoon | 10 | ········˘/ |
| In August,--by a fresh soft breeze o'erblown. | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| The swiftness of the tide, the light thereon, | 10 | ·/˘·····˘/ |
| A far-off sail, white as a crescent moon. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| The shining waters with pale currents strewn, | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| The quiet fishing smacks, the Eastern cove, | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| The semi-circle of its dark, green grove. | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| The luminous grasses, and the merry sun | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| In the grave sky; the sparkle far and wide, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Laughter of unseen children, cheerful chirp | 10 | /˘·˘//˘/˘· |
| Of crickets, and low lisp of rippling tide, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Light summer clouds fantastical as sleep | 10 | ·/˘·˘/˘˘·· |
| Changing unnoted while I gazed thereon. | 10 | /˘······˘/ |
| All these fair sounds and sights I made my own. | 10 | ·········· |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.